For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

As in everything, the trajectory of global culture has affected the ways in which we perceive and consume metal. While we won’t have the time to go in depth on concepts like “the West”, “globalism” and “cultural appropriation”, it’s safe to say that metal is too often viewed with a Western-tinged lens. Thus, Europe (western/northern Europe, that is) and the US are often viewed as the focal points of the community and, sometimes, as the only grounds in which events worth consider occur. However, the reality is far from that and is much more positive: metal, like any cultural community which has, is or will one day thrive, is a global phenomenon.

I have been to a lot of shows in my life, and each one holds a special spot in my heart for one reason or another. The sights, the tingling olfactory sensations that I pick up at different venues for different genres of music, the way the room feels, the…

Another month, another Ne Obliviscaris side project. Just a few short months after Vipassi released their amazing debut EP Śūnyatā, multi-instrumentalist Brendan Brown, best known as the bass player in the aforementioned bands, has put the finishing touches on the debut LP of his solo project Infinite Density. A staggering nine years in the making, this album saw Brown compose and track each instrument. As mentioned in his initial album announcement, one reason for the length of time taken in releasing this record is because Brown has spent much of that time honing his guitar skills to a level where he could actually play the songs he had written. That moment is finally upon us as he enlists Ben Boyle (Hadal Maw, A Million Dead Birds Laughing, Vipassi) on vocals to release a technical death metal album in the vein of acclaimed acts such as Wormed and Inanimate Existence.

For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

Picture this: a young music enthusiast (disclaimer: I am the music enthusiast), who is constantly on the prowl for new music to jam — as music enthusiasts are wont to do — finally gets around to listening to a certain band he’s heard of in a positive light quite a number of times. Said music enthusiast eventually peruses the band’s discography and searches for a starting point. Once the starting point is identified, the jamming begins: good times are had, and all is right with the world. And so I, a music enthusiast and more specifically one of Heavy Blog’s resident tech death geeks, decided to set my sights on the Australian tech death band Psycroptic, after many months of constantly being reminded that they are a band whose work was bound to match my tastes.

When it comes down to it, Gorguts are one of the most important bands in shaping both the current and future landscape of death metal, no questions asked. Since their breakup and subsequent reunion which was met with one of the best “comeback” metal albums of all time in Colored…

Whilst Abhorrent may be a new name for you, its members likely aren’t. Comprised of Nick Brown on vocals, Marlon Friday on guitars (Absvrdist), Lyle Cooper on drums (ex-Faceless, Absvrdist) and Erlende Caspersen on bass (Spawn of Possession), it will come as no surprise to learn these guys are playing technical death metal; and brutal technical death metal at that.

Inevitably, every best-of list incites comments of “what, no ___?”, especially in a year as overflowing with great music as 2015 has been. Among the staff here, it’s no different, because of our extremely democratic process towards ranking our best-of list.

As you could probably guess, this week is all about discussing our favorite albums from 2015. However, we decided to have a few special guests also discuss their top 10 albums from the year, and why they placed where they did. This week, we have Brody from Rivers Of Nihil, who’s…